THE Loss
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THE Loss
Of this season's losses -- and there are so many -- this afternoon's against the Minnesota Timberwolves is by far the worst. It is, dare we say, this season's defining game. The 76ers are up by 20 points, 51-31, with a few minutes left before hafltime. Sure, at the time, it felt like the Sixers should have been up 30 (that's how bad the Timberwolves were playing), but the game felt out of hand as it was -- no way the Sixers don't win. That first half, the Sixers were playing as they'd been playing lately: strong defense, sensible rotations, a general sense of improvement.
As quickly as Johnny Flynn can get from baseline to baseline -- and that's fast -- all that good feeling, all that forward momentum, was gone.
At the start of the third quarter, the Timberwolves hit a couple of buckets, made it a 13-point game, and you started thinking this could be bad -- really bad. Then that run came in the middle of the third where the lead just drained: 15 points to 4 points. During this specific run, Sixers coach Eddie Jordan sat on the bench and did not call a timeout. It felt almost as if he was daring his team to figure it out for itself. Finally, on the bucket that made it 68-64, Jordan called a timeout.
If you watched the game, you're probably confused about three things (maybe more?), but we'll address three things. If you're looking for the answer to these three things, well ...
1.) Why did Allen Iverson play consecutively for 23 minutes, 8 seconds and then sit the final 51 seconds of regulation and all 5 minutes of overtime? Technically, this is two questions: Why did Iverson play all these minutes? Why, after playing all these minutes, did Iverson not play in overtime?
Here's Jordan answer to the question why Iverson played all those minutes: "I thought he was going and they came with a surge in the third quarter and he still looked sort of refreshed out there and I wanted to run the table with him and then I just thought we needed some bigger bodies for defense when we got back at the end."
I'm not going to tell you what that means, only that Iverson played the entire third quarter, was a defensive liability the entire time, finished 2 for 6 from the field with 3 turnovers and 0 assists. Iverson played 11:08 of the fourth, was a defensive liability the entire time, finished 1 for 3 from the floor with 3 points and 4 assists. For the game, Iverson scored 11 points and had 9 assists and 5 turnovers. After the game, Jordan mentioned a lack of killer instinct on his team and seemed to say Allen has that killer instinct, so by deduction, perhaps he was keeping Iverson in the game because he feels he'll end another team's run.
Here's Jordan's answer to why, after playing Iverson all those minutes, he didn't put him back in the game. The question, specifically, was "Once you took him out, with his knee, could he not go back into the game in OT?" Jordan said: "There had to be a situation there where I thought if we got some sort of cushion I could have brought him back in for some free throws, to sort of handle the offense for us and settle things down and get a play, but we needed to defend and I wanted some bigger bodies in there and I wanted Andre [Iguodala] at two."
Afterwards, Iverson said his knee was fine and not playing the game's final six minutes was Jordan's decision. Iverson said: "Coaches go off their gut feeling and you have to live with it. He live with things I do on the basketball court that’s not always the right thing for the team and allow me to make mistakes. My whole thing is to let him coach and make the decisions he make and support him."
2.) Why didn't Jrue Holiday play at all in the second half or in overtime? Especially considering Flynn finished with 29 points, scored 11 in the third quarter, and 5 in overtime. Holiday's the team's best on-ball defender.
In the second half, Jordan went with Willie Green on Flynn. Green made his first 5 shots and then missed his next 4, including an important three pointer that hit the side of the backboard. Holiday played 10:48 in the first half, had 3 assists and scored 2 points. After the game Holiday said there was no communication as to why he didn't play in the second half. He said he played his normal minutes in the first half and then there's nothing you can do, you just go out and play hard when you play and cheer for your teammates.
When asked if there was any thought process in taking Holiday out of the second-half rotation, Jordan said: "I thought Willie was good defensively and he had made some shots for us and I wanted Andre at guard so we could be a little bit bigger. Look, I wanted to run the table with Allen, he felt good, he felt great, and I thought he could get it going for us."
3.) Why didn't starting point guard Lou Williams play at all in the fourth quarter? Williams scored 11 points in the first quarter. He finished the game 6 for 11 with 15 points, 0 assists, 0 turnovers. Jordan went almost entirely with Green and Iverson. This is only confusing because Williams has often been the go-to guy at the end of games. And he has an attacking mentality, which the Sixers seemed to be missing in the second half.
After the game, Lou looked pretty frustrated. He said (when asked about any reason given for not playing in the fourth quarter): "No. Nah. I guess he felt Willie had it going and like I’ve always said, we’re a team, it’s not a competition in the locker room, you support him and wait your turn ... It’s frustrating, but what are you going to do?"
So, an OT loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who boost their Western Conference worst record to 9-33. Walking back from the arena floor to the media room, we ran into Sixers General Manager Ed Stefanski, who was leaning against the wall across from the visiting locker room.
It's 40 games into this season.
--Kate
Why does Willie Green play at all???— Mikell = Dawkins 2- Jordan is horrible. He has to go. We had the ball with 4 seconds left and a tie game. The best play we can come up with is Iguadola to force a shot that had no chance of going in? Come on. That was terrible.— Jokerman
- While it is easy to blast Jordan, and Lord knows he deserves it, at some point players need to step up. Iverson was brutal in the second half, both offensively and defensively, while Green fired an air ball and hit the side of the backboard on two of his four second-half flings. Iguodala should learn to give the ball to his point guard for the break when he rebounds, and take the wing on the break, instead of always taking it himself, as he is not a great dribbler or passer or long-range shooter, and had two late costly turnovers and once again missed the final shot and actually missed the two free throws at the end of regulation, but was saved by a goaltending. Nor did Brand distinguish himself. Even stranger, in the first half, they looked for Dalembert who has been playing the best ball of his career, but in the second half, they generally ignored him. I agree that once again the rotation was odd,as Jordan drifted again toward a 10-man rotation and should have played Holiday on Flynn for most of the second half, but once again, these are professional players and they need to come up big, at least once in a while, or they should be traded.— chuckw
- great dissection of the sixers. eddie jordan must hate you, when stefanski fires him tomorrow he will be citing your article.— notch44
- It time for a new coach, general manager and owner.— gbreed52
- Eddie Jordan is the second coming of Roy Rubin, the architect of the 9-73 Sixers. Or is it Doug Moe? Either way, Jordan is in the running for the worst Sixer coach ever.— mike l
- Watching a Sixers game is like watching an Eagles season. They make a great run. You think they are going to win, and then they taunt you by blowing it at the end.— Jokerman
- i think it's time to put a yale padlock on the door of eddie jordan and put him in the coach of a greyhound bus and take him back to the unemployment office.— frenval
- Eddie Jordan has to have someone telling him to tank most of these games. It is hard to coach as poorly as he is with the assistant coaches that are on the sidelines. I can't imagine that Jim Lynam could not do a better job that Eddie, but someone upstairs in the management box, must be saying we should just win some home games, make the fans happy when they come, but tank the rest of the season to get a good draft pick. Eddie's rotation or lack there of is a joke and the way in which he plays guys and sits them for huge stretches make no sense either. I understood in the beginning that he was figuring out what he had to work with but its been half a season, you know what you have and you know who can do what with who. Figure it out already and win some games. Eddie wont lose his job this year, they need to give him another year because the team does not want to spend the money on paying his contract while he sits on a beach somewhere drinking daiquiris. We have to understand that this team does not have a point guard. Andre Miller was the glue holding the team together, and Lou Williams is not the answer. Jrue Holliday will be something special and his defense and tenacity is incredible. Willie Green has to go. He gets the ball and automatically shoots the ball. Whether he throws up a prayer, a brick, or a dream, he continues to shoot. Maureese Speights has the most upside of any player on the team by far, and has improved 10 fold in the past half a season. He just needs to work on his defense. Allen Iverson, is well Allen Iverson. Nothing changes, except now he's slower and breaking down. Sammy Dalembert was a joke, but recently he has played incredibly especially with his homeland in shambles. Igoudala well, he is just a plain waste of money. Not the go to guy, and certainly not the guy I give the ball to in a pinch. Thaddeus, well what a disappointment. So much potential that just seems to have washed up and vanished. What now?— dougiefresh163
- How is this NOT coaching? The 76ers blew a 20 point lead! I know the players are out there to execute - but isn't the coach responsible for delivering a victory when his squad has 20 point lead in the 3rd quarter? Eddie Jordan has only a surname in common with any type of basketball "sense". Abort.— mebphila
- So isn't that exactly the type of performance that gets a coach fired at 40 games?— PhillySubsMac
- The Sixers franchise has been an embarassment over the past 25 years. The Phillies' ownership finally woke up: win, and they will come. Ed Snider's nickname is PT Barnum. The ringleader may change (King, Stefanski, etc.), but the mediocre product remains the same.— zaituna
- Trust me. Management is not telling Jordan to tank games in hopes of getting a lottery pick in a year with a relatively drab collegiate class. Nor are the players tanking. They simply come up small in the clutch. I thought Jordan would not get fired this season because of the plethora of ex-GMs and ex-coaches for the Flyers and Sixers thanks to the incompetence of Ed. Snider, but Snider and Stefanski might not have any choice, thanks to beat-writers like Kate Fagan whose laser is focused on the shortcomings of this hapless coach. Attendance is a joke and something needs to be done, either firing the coach or making a blockbuster trade or both. And Soon!!!— chuckw
- I told them to get rid of Zumoff and HipHop. They will continue to lose and beset by bad luck until they do.— Drew777
- What a circus.— duder
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
